Adventures of the First
Settlers on the Oregon and Columbia RiversChapter XV

ASTORIA now became the scene of business and
bustle. A council was convened, and a second meeting of the partners
took place. Last year their expectations were raised to the highest
pitch, and everything promised an abundant harvest of wealth and glory:
the present state of affairs was some, what clouded with reverses and
cross-purposes. The resolutions of M'Dougall and M'Kenzie last winter to
abandon the undertaking, were now discussed anew: on the one hand,
M'Dougail found great fault with Clarke and Stuart for not taking such
steps for leaving the country as were pointed out in the resolutions
alluded to; on the other hand, these gentlemen were equally displeased
with M'Dougall for having acted, as they considered, prematurely and
without their consent. Two days were spent in mutual recrimination: at
hat M'Kerizie, who had hitherto left both parties to settle the dispute
the best way they could, now sided with M'Dougall, and poured forth such
a torrent of persuasive eloquence, backed by facts, that the opposite
party were reduced to silence.

"Gentlemen," said he, "why do you hesitate so
long between two opinions? your eyes ought to have been opened before
now to your own interests. In the present critical conjuncture, there is
no time to be lost: let us then, by a timely measure, save what we can,
lest a British ship of war enter the river and seize all. We have been
long enough the dupes of a vacillating policy—a policy which showed
itself at Montreal on our first outset, in refusing to engage at once a
sufficient number of able hands.

"At Nodowa that policy was equally
conspicuous. Did not Astor's private missive to Mr. Hunt at that place
give umbrage to all? Did not his private orders to Mr. Hunt to put his
nephew, with one scratch of his pen, over the heads of all the clerks in
the concern add to that umbrage? Could there be anything more impolitic
and unjust? Could there be any measure more at variance with the letter
and the spirit of the articles of agreement? Did not his private
instructions to his captains annihilate the power and authority of the
partners? When the unfortunate Tonquin left this, what did she leave
behind? did she not, by virtue of Astor's private instructions to her
captain, carry everything off that was worth carrying off? Has not the
same line of policy been pursued in the case of the Beaver? And this
year there is no ship at all! Has it not been obvious from the
beginning, that under Astor's policy we can never prosper? and, besides,
there are other untoward matters over which Mr. Astor had no control,
such as the delay of the Beaver, the absence of Mr. Hunt, our formidable
rivals the North-West Company, and, to crown all, the declaration of
war.

"Now, gentlemen, all these inauspicious
circumstances taken together point out, in my opinion, the absolute
necessity of abandoning the enterprize as soon as possible. We owe it to
Astor—we owe it to ourselves; and our authority for adopting such a
course is based on the 15th and 16th articles of the copartnership,
which authorize us at any time within the period of five years to
abandon the undertaking, should it prove impracticable or unprofitable.
Not, gentlemen, that there is any fault in the country—no country, as to
valuable furs, can hold out better prospects; but Astor's policy, and a
chain of misfortunes, have ruined all. Astor, with all his sagacity,
either does not or will not understand the business. The system we were
bound to follow was bad, and that system we cannot alter; so that we are
bound in honour to deliver the whole back into the hands from which we
received it—and the sooner the better." These representations, stamped
with the authority of experience, had the desired effect; the resolution
to abandon the country was adopted, and Messrs. Stuart and Clarke gave
it their cordial consent: as it was now too late to carry it into
execution this year, it was postponed till the next; and the 1st of June
was the time fixed upon for our departure.

These preliminary arrangements being now
completed, a resolution was signed on the 1st of July, by all the
partners present, to dissolve the concern and abandon the enterprize the
next year. It was then resolved that Mr. Stuart should betake himself to
his post at the She Whaps, and that Mr. Clarke should proceed to
Spokane, while Mr. M'Kenzie was to winter on the Wallamitte, with the
express understanding that we were all to meet again at Astoria next
May, and to take our final departure from that establishment on the 1st
of June, unless a new supply should arrive, and peace be concluded
before that time. That Mr. Reed, with some hunters and trappers, should
pass the winter in the Snake country, collect the stragglers still
wandering through that quarter, and at a certain point await the arrival
of the main body, and join it on its way across.

Meanwhile, Mr. M'Dougall was still to continue
in the command of Astoria until Mr. Hunt's return. M'Dougall was also
empowered, in the event of Mr. Hunt's non-arrival, to treat with Mr.
M'Tavish for the transfer of all the goods and furs belonging to the
Pacific Fur Company in the country, at certain fixed prices, should that
gentleman be disposed to purchase on behalf of the North-West Company,
considering a sale of this nature, under all circumstances, to be a
safer speculation than the conveyance of so much property across the
long and dangerous route to St. Louis. Such were the resolutions passed
on the present occasion, and copies of them all were delivered over to
M'Tavish, to be forwarded to Mr. Astor by the North-West Company's
winter express. The parties then left Astoria for the interior on the
5th of July.

We have now so often related the voyage up and
down the Columbia, that on the present occasion it will not be necessary
to dwell on minute details; suffice it to say, therefore, that we
reached the cascades or first barrier without any remarkable occurrence,
till we got opposite to Strawberry Island, where one of the canoes in
ascending the rapid, sheered out in the stream, whirled round and round,
and upset. With great difficulty and danger the men were saved, but a
good deal of property was irrecoverably lost, and, among other things, a
box of mine, containing books and mathematical instruments, quadrant,
sextant, and a valuable pair of pistols—all went to the bottom. It is a
singular fact, that we have never yet once been able to pass this
Charybdis without paying tribute either to the natives or the
whirlpools: but misfortunes seldom come alone, and to add to the
confusion, as we were all running to and fro saving the men's lives and
the property, Mr. Cox's gun, being held in some awkward and careless
position, went off, and both balls passed through the calf of Mr.
Pullet's right leg, but fortunately without breaking the bone.

Proceeding onwards, we passed the long narrows
and the Wyampam banditti, for the first time, without any trouble. It
was, however, rumoured here that we were to be attacked in passing the
forks; that the Indians had assembled there in hostile array. And here
Mr. Clarke would fain have avoided the rencounter; he made several
attempts, but in vain, to engage a guide to lead him through the
interior by a back path. At the Umatallow, the small party bound for the
Snake country left us, and departed in the direction of the Blue
Mountains.

On reaching the Walla Walls, about six miles
from the forks, Tummeatapam made signs for us to go on shore. Here the
good old Sachem appeared much agitated, and sat for some time without
uttering a single word. At last he broke silence, and exclaimed —"White
men! white men!" then pointing to a dark cloud of dust rising near the
forks, said, "There they are—there they are!" Then taking up a handful
of sand and throwing it in the air, exclaimed again—"They are as
numerous as the grains of sand; the Indians have bad hearts: I am hoarse
with speaking to them; but they will not listen to me." He advised us
earnestly to turn back; but seeing us determined to ascend the river, he
asked Teave to embark and accompany us: but this we refused. We took
him, however, to one of our boats, and showed him a brass four-pounder,
some hand-grenades, and sky-rockets; then giving him some tobacco to
smoke, we embarked, and crossing over to the right-hand side, pushed on
along shore; the Indians being all on the left bank As we advanced, the
Indians, mounted in numerous squadrons, kept flying backwards and
forwards, seemingly bent on some great design. We paddled on, however,
without a moment's delay, anxious to get to a certain point a little
beyond the forks, but on the opposite side of the river, which is here
nearly a mile broad. When we came just opposite to the Indians, they all
formed into one mass, and could not have been less than two thousand,
with a fleet of one hundred and seventy-four canoes along the beach.
Their appearance was certainly very imposing and formidable; and the
noise of the war-dance and war- song, mingled with whooping and yelling,
was terrific. We in the mean time reached the wished-for point, landed,
took our stand, fortified our camp, and awaited the threatened attack.
This took place in the afternoon, about two hours before sunset. All at
once the canoes were launched, and we beheld fifty-seven of them filled
with people making for our camp. All was suspense. Every man squatted
down with his gun in his hand, and his finger on the trigger. As the
fleet approached our anxiety increased, till Mr Stuart, who kept eyeing
them all the time with a spy-glass, called out—" There is nothing to
fear; there are women and children in the canoes." This was glad news to
some of our party, who were more intent on saying their prayers than on
fighting. By this time they had got almost close to us, when they all
disembarked at the distance of about two hundred yards. Mr. Stuart,
advancing to meet them, drew a line on the sand, as much as to say, "Do
not pass this": they obeyed—the pipe of peace was smoked, and laid
aside. After a short pause, a few harangues were made. They smoked
again; a trifling present followed; the business was ended, and at dusk
the Indians returned quietly to their camp. We supposed that
Tummeatapam's account of our big gun influenced their conduct not a
little. Their peaceable behaviour, however, did not altogether quiet our
apprehensions; a strong watch was set for the night, and before the
morning dawn every man had his gun in his hand; but the Indians had
disappeared. This demonstration of the Indians prevented Mr. Clarke from
proceeding to his destination by the usual route. He had therefore to
continue with us, and pass by Oakinacken for Spokane, making a
circuitous route of more than three hundred miles.

From the forks, we proceeded without
interruption till we reached Oakinacken on the 15th of August, where I
was to winter; and here we shall leave the different parties to proceed
to their respective quarters, while we, in the mean time, return back a
little to see what is going on at Astoria.

It has already been stated that Mr. Hunt
arrived at Astoria, in the ship Albatross, on the 20th of August. He was
mortified to find, from the resolutions of the let of July, that the
partners had made up their minds to abandon the country. M'Dougall and
M'Kenzie now exerted their reasoning powers to convince Mr. Hunt of
their desperate and hopeless situation. Nor could that gentleman, with
all his zeal for the interest of Mr. Astor, and the success of his
enterprize, shut his eyes or close his ears against facts so
self-evident. After weighing, therefore, all the circumstances of our
situation, Mr. Hunt acquiesced in the measures that had been taken, and
likewise confirmed the powers given to Mr. M'Dougall to transfer the
goods and furs to the North-West Company. These points being settled,
Mr. Hunt, after remaining a week at Astoria, left the Columbia again in
the Albatross. This vessel was bound for the Marquesas, and Mr. Hunt
took a passage in her with the view of purchasing a ship to carry the
furs at Astoria to market, in the event of no transfer being made to the
North-West Company, as well as to convey thirty-two Sandwich Islanders,
now in the service of the Company, back to their own country; and here I
shall take my leave of Mr. Hunt for the present, and return to my post
at Oakinacken.

Everything now assumed a calm and tranquil
aspect; the dye was cast; we were now but sojourners for a day; the
spring would remove us to other scenes, and till then we had to make the
best we could of the passing hour. Under this impression, I soothed
myself with the hope of passing a quiet winter, thinking at times on our
disappointments. After all our labours, all our golden dreams, here is
the result! Well might we say, with Solomon, that "all is vanity!" While
musing one day on passing events, I was surprised all at once by the
arrival of a strong party of North-Westers, seventy-five in number, in a
squadron of ten canoes, and headed by Messrs. M'Tavish and Stuart, two
North-West bourgeois, on their way to the mouth of the Columbia, in high
glee, to meet their ship, the Isaac Todd, which was expected daily. Mr.
Clarke also accompanied the North-West brigade, on his way to Astoria.
With the craft peculiar to Indian traders, they had crammed down Mr.
Clarke's throat that nothing could be done at Astoria without him,
although his accompanying them was like the third wheel to a cart; but
it answered their purpose: for his leaving Spokane threw at once all the
trade of the district into their hands, and Mr. Clarke found out, when
it was too late, that he had been duped. At Astoria, the party arrived
safe on the 7th of October.

Here it was that the negotiation between the
two great functionaries, M'Dougall and M'Tavisb, commenced. The terms
were soon adjusted, and the prices fixed. The whole of the goods on
hand, both at Astoria and throughout the interior, were delivered over
to the North-West Company, at 10 per cent. on cost and charges. The furs
were valued at so much per skin. The whole sales amounted to 80,500
dollars: M'Tavish giving bills of exchange on the agents for the amount,
payable in Canada. This transaction took place on the 16th of October,
and was considered fair and equitable on both sides.

But, after all, a good deal of petty
manamvring took place, not very creditable to the representative of a
great body. M.'Tavish expected the armed ship Isaac Todd, fitted out as
a letter of marque, into the river daily, and in that case Astoria would
have been captured as a prize, and become the property of the North-West
Company without purchase; and besides, he had learned that the British
Government had despatched a ship of war to cruise on the coast of the
Pacific, and that she might be looked for hourly; and the moment she
entered the river all the American property, as a matter of course,
would have been seized as a prize. In either case, M'Tavish would have
saved his bills of exchange. Under this impression he put off from time
to time, under various pretences, the signing of the documents.
M'Dougall and M'Kenzie, however, saw through this piece of artifice, and
insisted that the business should be ratified at once. M'Tavish,
however, full of commercial wiles, tried to evade and retard every step
taken. M'Dougall, in the mean time, had a squadron of boats in
readiness, should any suspicious vessel come in sight, to transport the
furs and goods up to the Wal. lamitte out of her reach. While matters
were in this unsettled state, Mr. M'Kenzie suggested a decisive measure,
which brought the negotiation to a speedy close.

M'Tavish and his party were encamped at the
time within a few yards of the fort, and sheltered, as it were, under
the protection of our guns. They were also indebted to the generosity of
the Astorians for their daily supplies; being themselves without goods,
ammunition, or provisions.

One morning before daylight Messrs. M'Dougall
and M'Kenzie summoned all hands together, seventy- two in number, and
after a brief statement of the views of the North-West in reference to
the negotiation, ordered the bastions to be manned, the guns to be
loaded and pointed, and the matches lighted. In an instant every man was
at his post, and the gates shut. At eight o'clock a message was sent to
M'Tavish, giving him two hours, and no more, either to sign the bills or
break off the negotiation altogether and remove to some other quarters.
By eleven o'clock the bills were finally and formally signed, and
Astoria was delivered up to the North-West Company on the 12th of
November, after nearly a month of suspense between the drawing and the
signing of the bills.

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